A summary of Reykjavik seminar

South of North Iceland seminar was arranged in the wintery Reykjavik 13.-15.11.2013. The seminar consisted of three parts: An internal workshop at the inspiring landscape of Húsafell, a public lecture day and a workshop with the faculty of architecture in Iceland Academy of the Arts. The seminar was introduced to a wider public through a radio interview on RÙV, the Icelandic national broadcasting channel.

Five of eleven South of North-teams presented their work at the development field at the Alvar Aalto-designed Nordic House in central Reykjavik. As the aim of the seminar was to create discussion on how to initiate and implement socially and ecologically sustainable design projects in the Nordic context, two Icelandic guest lecturers were also invited to participate. Hannes Lárusson, one of the leading performance artists in Iceland, and Halldór Eiríksson, an architect and a teacher at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, presented their perspective on traditional construction techniques and sustainability in the Icelandic context.

In collaboration with Eiríksson, the South of North participants held a one-day workshop for the IAA third year students, with focus on sustainability and communication issues. The students were working in groups, creating solutions to design questions regarding themes such as water and sanitation, materials and renewable energy resources. The solutions and proposals were then to be illustrated in such a way that they even could have been communicated and understood in a developing context, in a situation without access to a computer or a common language. The used methods and the results generated several interesting discussions and the workshop will hopefully be repeated in some form during the coming events.

A big thanks to Föreningen Norden and the Nordic House, Hannes Lárusson, Halldór Eiríksson and all the participants for a successful event.